Balance plus... Flourish & Thrive

“Listen for the call of your destiny,
and when it comes,
release your plans and follow.”
~Mollie Marti

Do you ever find yourself wishing out loud for something and then placed in your path is something that seems to magically appear that leads you to your heart's desire?

I have long been a believer that you need to open yourself up to the possibilities in order to make them happen. This is not some new-age mumbo-jumbo. I am not saying that if you wish for a million dollars it will fall from the sky and land in your lap. Simply put, I believe that you need to open your heart to the opportunities that are waiting for you and once you do you will be surprised at what manifests. Once you see the doors opening, and have the courage to walk through them, other doors will open. You never know where they will lead.

I have been poking around on the Flourish & Thrive Academy website since they launched. I am very intrigued by this new community. I have been interested in taking their course Laying the Foundation, Volume 1 for some time but I couldn't see the potential in it, and didn't have the space in my life for it last fall.

And then I spotted them on Handemadeology asking the questions

• What was your biggest business success in 2012?
• What do you avoid dealing with in your business? 
• What is holding you back from taking your business to the next level?

I wrote such a long reply to those questions that I knew I was opening a door. And then I saw that my friend Heather Powers has taken the course and found it to be very valuable. Her comments opened the crack a bit wider and I could see myself carving out time for this program. I felt more ready to accept the challenge.

And today, I see that they are offering a scholarship to the program with a creative blog post or video post answering these questions.

• Where are you in your jewelry business now?
• What’s holding you back in your business and your life?
• What is your vision for your business? Where do you want to go? What are your biggest dreams and desires?

I am on a soul-searching path of late, focusing on the Memories & Thanks blog hop tomorrow, signing up for the Intuitive Heart Sanctuary and the Focusing on Life assignment of my word(s) for the year, and this is completely resonating with me. My head knows that I need this direction, this push, but my heart was unwilling to go in that direction. Until now. So I am answering those three questions with a free verse, stream of consciousness poem just the way it popped into my head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Floating along in a surging sea of beads, I

sometimes struggle to stay afloat.

I am buoyed by the potential around me,

excited to create,

inspired to let the currents take me on a 

magical journey,

but

deadlines race toward me and

threaten

to drag me under,

paperwork bogs me down.

How can you drown

under so much 

beauty?

But I just keep swimming.

No loss of ideas.

No shortage of materials.

Simply not enough time.

Working all day:

wife-mother-daugher-sister-friend-volunteer-worker 

leaves little room

for stretching my creative wings.

Beading all night burns the midnight oil,

sometimes kills creative mojo.

leaves me wondering how long I can sustain

and

will my children grow up and pass me by.

I need
balance and order
so I can
create and grow.

What works...

developing new ideas,
pushing the limits

writing instructions, blog posts, book proposals

connecting with others, 

encouraging big dreams (mine and others),

playing with new tools and techniques

challenging creativity.

Finding balance

in life

in work

in creating

in family

is my biggest pitfall, obstacle, hurdle.

 I envision

writing books

developing my line

selling across the country

(and why not around the world?)

but first, more time for making, exploring, learning

and then quitting

that day job

opening up a creative space

where other dreamers and doers

can let their God-given talents shine

to flourish & thrive

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My word for 2013...BALANCE

This image is one that I took in September 2008 on a once in a lifetime trip to San Francisco with my parents and husband to celebrate the occasion of my 40th birthday. I stumbled across this long forgotten photo, but it perfectly illustrates my word - BALANCE - as well as the fact that I need to take care of the big stones in my life first. My health, my family and my need for creative self-expression are very big stones. 

An ancillary word that goes along with this is ORDER. There are so many things that are spinning out of control in my life and to get some BALANCE I will need to make room for ORDER. Like that stack of paperwork that is beckoning me. Or that tower of books that I want to tackle. And let's not forget that ORDERS are what I like to get from Etsy and elsewhere, but I need a way to streamline the process. And a business plan, or really any sort of plan would bring a lot of ORDER -  and hopefully orders - into my life and business.

BALANCE and ORDER have always been hard for me and my chaotic, detouring, right brain mind. But my head knows what my heart resists. 

So even if I don't happen to be so lucky as to win a scholarship to the Flourish & Thrive Academy, my heart and mind are at least aligned enough to know that this is the direction that my toes need to be pointed in 2013 and I will find a way to make it happen. 

What is written on your heart for 2013? 

What steps are you willing to take to make it happen?